Working together ensures a better tomorrow for the arts. By building new support and new audiences, the arts in America will thrive. In 2013, we partnered with various organizations—both governmental and for-profit—in order to bring awareness and access to the arts across the nation.
SphinxCon
An initiative of the Sphinx Organization, SphinxCon was created as a space for performing arts leaders to discuss challenges surrounding diversity in the performing arts. As part of our ever-deepening partnership, Americans for the Arts President and CEO Robert L. Lynch was invited to speak about the work of Americans for the Arts.
Leadership Recognition
President and CEO Robert L. Lynch makes in-roads with some of the most influential organizations and leaders. In 2013, he joined the Independent Sector Board of Directors. In September 2013, Americans for the Arts President and CEO Robert L. Lynch and Board Member Tim McClimon received the Nonprofit Times Power & Influence Top 50 award that celebrates executives who are moving and shaping the nonprofit world and paving a sustainable future for the sector.
Congressional STEAM Caucus
On January 30, a bipartisan team of members of Congress launched the Congressional STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) Caucus. The STEAM Caucus aims to change the vocabulary of education to recognize the benefits of both the arts and sciences—and their intersections—to our country's future generations. The formation of the STEAM Caucus comes after years of discussion between Americans for the Arts and members of Congress and ensures that arts education becomes a priority in congressional policy.
Arts Education
In 2013, Americans for the Arts continued its partnership with the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities initiative, Turnaround Arts. Turnaround Arts brings arts education programming and resources to the highest-poverty, lowest-performing elementary and middle schools in the country in order boost academic achievement and increase student engagement. We also joined the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards leadership team, a broad coalition of arts education associations and arts education leadership organizations. This Coalition aims to update and improve upon the 1994 national arts standards and design a curriculum standard to help arts educators provide the high-quality instruction and assessment that students need to succeed in today’s schools and tomorrow’s careers.
Cause Marketing
American Girl
We partnered with American Girl to introduce its 2013 Girl of the Year, Saige Copeland, an artist & advocate, to families across America. To support the message of preserving the arts in schools, the partnership sponsored the Elevate the Arts School Grant Contest, where schools entered to win one of 13 grants totaling in $45,000. Additionally, we published the Saige Learning Guide, a free, downloadable arts-based curriculum designed for teachers to inspire students to explore their creative side.
VANS
In 2013, we continued our partnership with VANS Custom Culture Contest to reinforce the importance of arts education in schools across the country. The VANS Custom Culture Contest encourages high school students to create a work of art from a blank pair of VANS shoes and to compete for grants for their school’s arts programs. In 2013, Americans for the Arts and VANS were able to grant awards to 10 schools across the country—from small towns like Ooltewah, TN to major cities like Los Angeles – enabling students to have access to and take part in high quality learning experiences in the arts.
Tony Roma
We also teamed up with Romacorp, Inc., parent company for Tony Roma’s restaurants. With more than 150 restaurants around the globe, Tony Roma was an ideal partner to raise awareness for arts education. During the campaign, Tony Roma donated $1.00 for every purchase made of the fall season featured item. Ending in December, the campaign raised money to support local schools and garnered public attention for arts education.
Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy
In June, Americans for the Arts participated in the annual Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) Summit to showcase the powerful effect the arts can have on social change and business objectives. The conference's theme, "Ahead, Together," spoke as a metaphor as to how nonprofit and private sector organizations can work together to advance society, build community, and drive economies. In October, Americans for the Arts President and CEO Robert L. Lynch was selected to be on the 2013-2014 CECP Advisory Committee, providing one-on-one feedback on CECP’s programs and initiatives, meeting to discuss a variety of strategic topics, and selecting CECP’s 2014 Excellence Awards winners.
United States Travel Tourism & Advisory Board
The United States Secretary of Commerce appointed Americans for the Arts President and CEO Robert L. Lynch to serve on the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. The Board, with 32 members, serves as the advisory body to the Secretary of Commerce on government policies and programs that affect the U.S. travel and tourism industry, offers counsel on current and emerging issues, and provides a forum for discussing and proposing solutions to industry-related problems. While its members represent a broad cross-section of the industry, Robert L. Lynch is the only representative from the arts and cultural sector, advising the Secretary of Commerce on matters of importance to local artistic communities.
Public Broadcasting Across America
At closing keynote for our 2013 Americans for the Arts Annual Convention, Paula Kerger of the Public Broadcasting Service and Gary Knell of National Public Radio spoke on the impact of the arts through stories and images and how public radio and television helped in connecting the arts with Americans.